Bald Eagles

The Conowingo Dam is a magnet for eagle-watchers. Here, as the waters of the Susquehanna River surge through the gates of the 4,500-foot-long dam, anywhere from a half-dozen to 40 bald eagles can be seen perched on electrical transmission towers, soaring overhead and swooping into the frothing current for a meal. Getting the perfect shot with that digital camera, however, is a little harder. Bob Dorsch of Newark, Del., recently was explaining the nature-themed few days he had in store for grandsons Benjamin Dorsch, 9, and Cameron Dorsch, 6, when an eagle suddenly flew overhead.

From a distance, it looks as though the three eagles above Woodrest Creek couldn't have found a more peaceful perch. Motorboats and curious hikers can't get close. The nearest road is about 450 yards away. The only sounds come from a chirping osprey nesting across the street. And then - boom! - a tank gun fires. A few minutes later - boom! - it fires again. It's enough to make a human heart stop. But the eagles don't even flinch. To the winged longtime residents of Aberdeen Proving Ground, such intermittent explosions are as much a part of their habitat as the water and the air. Since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed the bald eagle on the endangered species list 30 years ago, America's symbol of freedom has made quite a comeback: the agency is considering removing the bird from the list.

While zipping through the Eastern Shore city of Cambridge on the way to the ocean, most folks have no idea that just to the south are tidal marshes so scenic and vast that they have been dubbed the "Everglades of Maryland." Indeed, southern Dorchester County looks more like Florida than the Mid-Atlantic. And like the Sunshine State, the region is home to a high concentration of nesting bald eagles, which will be celebrated Saturday during the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge's popular eagle festival.

RAGGED POINT - The mother eagle was hissing, brandishing her talons and otherwise causing a ruckus - her way of letting Craig Koppie know she would have none of his plan to spirit one of her eaglets off to Vermont. But Koppie, an endangered species biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, would not be deterred. With help from his New England colleague, Michael Amaral, he would get the bird and two others to Vermont, the only state in the lower 48 without a breeding bald eagle population.

In Maryland SARS, meningitis ruled out in college student's death Doctors have ruled out SARS and meningitis in the death Monday of a 22-year-old student from Washington College in Chestertown who had become ill with flulike symptoms Jan. 18, state health officials said yesterday. The state health department was trying to learn yesterday what killed Simon M. Hultman, a senior from Pahoa, Hawaii, who had been a patient at the University of Maryland Medical Center for about a week. Hultman was majoring in international affairs with a concentration in Japanese language, culture and history.

Who has been poisoning bald eagles on Maryland's Eastern Shore? An 18-month investigation into four poisoned birds - one of which died - has hit a dead end, and federal authorities announced a $2,500 reward yesterday for additional information. "We suspect, because of what our lab results have told us, that they were poisoned with a pesticide," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Bryce Findley. "Unfortunately, our investigation has stalled out at this point. We have explored several avenues, and thus far we have not found the perpetrator."

A week after opening with a devastating loss at Morgan State, Towson took out its frustrations on Division II Lock Haven last night at Minnegan Field at Towson Stadium. In their first meeting, the Tigers dominated throughout, cleared their bench and romped to a 50-19 victory to end a three-game losing streak that stretched back to 2002. "I feel we had a great week of practice, prepared better and were a lot more focused for this game," Towson coach Gordy Combs said. "It was definitely a confidence booster for ourselves," added tailback Mikal Lundy, who rushed for a career-high 121 yards and scored two touchdowns.

OXON HILL - Like a lot of people, it seems, bald eagles enjoy watching construction work. Defying biologists' expectations, a pair of the threatened species has built a home here on the Maryland shore of the Potomac River, in the very midst of the construction of the new $2.5 billion Woodrow Wilson Bridge. The noise and commotion do not bother the birds. In fact, they seem to like it. The eagles spend their days watching hundreds of workers labor over the new bridge, thousands of cars and trucks zoom (or inch)

NEW YORK - If one were to poll a group of travel professionals, the Bronx is probably the last place on Earth that would come up as an "eco-tourism destination." What they might be surprised to discover is that the Bronx is filled with wild animals - and we don't mean at the Bronx Zoo. Along with typical urban fauna like pigeons, squirrels and sparrows, the Bronx is visited by coyotes, wild turkeys, deer and the occasional bald eagle. In fact, the Bronx is so crowded with furred, feathered and finned species that the New York City Parks and Recreation Department posts a full-time wildlife manager there.

NEW YORK - It was a hot day to learn how to fly. But two of the four baby bald eagles that were brought to Inwood Hill Park on June 20 were doing just that, having been released from their treehouse cage. "They're doing fine," Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said at what he called a "coming-out party" to report on the eagles' progress not far from their leafy aerie at the northern tip of Manhattan. The eaglets, which were taken from nests in the wilds of Wisconsin, are the first to grow up in New York City since the 19th century, Parks Department officials said.